Funeral arrangements announced for U.S. Army soldier and Jersey City native killed in action

Recently killed Army soldier Pfc. LeRoy DeRonde III grew up in a "tight knit family" and enlisted in the Army to support his struggling family, his cousin Jason Owen said today.

The Department of Defense announced that DeRonde was one of two soldiers that was killed in Afghanistan when his unit was attacked by enemy fire during patrol on May 27.

The 22 year-old DeRonde grew up in Jersey City and was the middle child of three, leaving behind his younger brother Harold ,18, and older sister Jennifer, 33.In 2002, the passing of DeRonde's mother from ovarian cancer shook the family to its core.

"At that time the family was going through rough times," Owen said.

When Owen was 27, he and his fiancee became the guardians of DeRonde and his younger brother after DeRonde's mother's death. DeRonde was 16 at the time. DeRonde briefly attended Dickinson and Lincoln High Schools, Owen said today.

"At 20, it clicked for him. He would have to put the family on his shoulders to survive," said Owen, adding that DeRonde began to seriously consider the military.

After getting his GED and taking a few college credit courses, DeRonde left home for basic training in January 2011.

Three months later he was one of five basic training graduates to be promoted to second-class private and was awarded the 1st Battalion 48th Infantry Regiment Order of the Dragon Soldiers.